


improbable, but not impossible

by artistic_mathematics



Series: improbable, but not impossible [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Dragon Shifter Eren, F/M, First Meetings, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Princess Mikasa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 02:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30132933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artistic_mathematics/pseuds/artistic_mathematics
Summary: A curious soul meets an elusive creature in the depths of the forest.
Relationships: Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager
Series: improbable, but not impossible [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2219886
Comments: 22
Kudos: 64





	improbable, but not impossible

**Author's Note:**

> This is absolutely not my AU -- it belongs to @cedroferech on Twitter. [Here](https://twitter.com/cedroferech/status/1371664558260109312?s=20) is the link of the post that I was specifically inspired by.
> 
> I took some liberties of imagining this AU myself. I wrote more than half of it when I noticed the artist say that Mikasa's design was inspired by Princess Mononoke, but I... have literally never watched it, so uh, oh well.
> 
> I'm sorry if the characters are OOC.
> 
> This is completely unbeta'd so it's potentially a mess. Oops.

Mikasa’s not sure why she’s meandering deeper and deeper into the woods. Especially as the sun sinks lower into the ground and it becomes harder to see without its guiding light.

She was initially mad at Levi. _Initially._ It’s why she stormed out in the first place and headed for the forest. Her anger faded away over time—as it does after every fight they have—but when it was gone, the direction she was going in stayed the same. The anger was replaced steadily by something far more deadly— _curiosity._

He told her it was like an addiction. _It gets in your head_ , he said. _Makes you forget all about the present. Soon, you’ll forget about everything else._ Later that day, however, she caught him listening intently to Armin as the boy spoke about phoenixes. It was enduring, really, until Levi found out she was eavesdropping and put her on cleaning duty for the rest of the week. And she was a _princess._

(Not that royalty ever stopped Levi from cleaning every speck of dust off of every last piece of furniture.)

But she thinks… well, she doesn’t really know what to think. She grew up learning how to do everything like an Ackerman, from fighting to simple table manners. Within those lessons she was taught how to think, act, and speak.

Mikasa isn’t supposed to be curious. Curiosity is for the more common folk—those who want to adventure out and face the unknown. The simple act of not knowing is dangerous and unbecoming of an Ackerman—or so Levi had said—because it could be the simple border between life and death itself.

Maybe she finds the danger alluring. Maybe that’s why she continues to walk, with no regard for her own safety. Maybe… maybe she doesn’t want to be an Ackerman—wants to become more like Armin, eyes bright and free as he explains the most recent tale he’s read about. Now she thinks about it, she’s actually rather jealous of him, since he never had to spend 10 hours a day poring over books about the history of Shiganshina before getting tested relentlessly on the information in the text.

Well, she could indulge herself. Exploring the endless sea of trees a couple times a week couldn’t hurt, or so she thinks.

 _Levi will have my head for this if he finds out,_ she chuckles darkly.

And, perhaps, he would be right to do so. She’s heard stories—actually, _everyone’s_ heard stories—of what lies beyond the sight of Shiganshina’s walls. But there are varying amounts of truth to each. She can see the truth in a giant snake that could swallow a deer whole. What she _can’t_ believe is a recent first-hand encounter with a mermaid-like creature with a beak for its mouth, because that was just absurd.

 _It wouldn’t be so absurd if I saw it with my own two eyes,_ she thinks. _Actually, if it were possible, I kind of want to see something like that with my own two eyes. Something… unheard of._

Is _this_ what adventurers feel like when they explore? It feels so much more exhilarating to experience things in-person than learning about things from a book.

She chides herself lightly for not giving into her curious desires earlier.

“Didn’t anyone tell a pretty critter like you to not wander deep into the forest?”

She whips around at the words, instantly unsheathing her dagger and pressing the blade up to one side of the newcomer’s neck. Her blank expression nearly falters when she notices his eyes—his irises are a stunning shade of emerald and his pupils are slit, not unlike the many snakes she has hunted for sport. Her eyes flick up to his horns, two of which protrude above his nose and four more through his hair. And suddenly, she realizes that the crystals around his eyes are actually _scales_ —opaque, gray scales with a hint of a deep shade of blue.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wonders if her wish had just been granted.

“Well, that’s just rude,” the creature comments, jolting her from her thoughts. His eyes rake up and down her body lazily as he continues. “I came to warn you about the dangers lurking within my territory, and you attack me as a ‘thank you’.”

“That doesn’t mean that you’re _not_ a threat,” she states, her grip tightening. “And besides, you are in no position to lecture me.”

He tips his head to one side in a tantalizing manner, his upper lip curling into a smirk. “You’re wrong about that. But I’ll play along.”

He sounds bored, and it _infuriates_ her. She can’t read his expression at all, making it impossible for her to gauge whether he’s bluffing or not. _Better to be cautious_ , she muses. _Never underestimate the enemy._

“First question—”

He cuts her off with a short laugh—which is more of a bark, really. “Oh, you have several questions? Hurry it up, I don’t have all day—”

“Do you ever shut up? Your yammering is wasting more time than my questions,” she retorts indignantly. She has to physically restrain herself from slapping her free hand over her mouth for such a response. She can just about imagine Sasha priding her in saying such a thing later as she hides her face in her hands, mumbling incoherently about just how terrible of a thing that was to say.

Even the creature looks surprised. If it weren’t for the poorly masked amusement lurking underneath such an expression, she would’ve even felt proud of herself in the moment.

Instead, the fire in her burns brighter. She forces her dagger deeper into his neck. “What are you?” she all but hisses, her voice several pitches lower than it had been moments before.

Both eyebrows rise in reply. “What does it look like?”

“This isn’t up for debate,” she fires back, her voice decidedly less venomous than before. She berates herself the moment the words leave her lips. How is she supposed to convince him that she’s the one with the upper hand if she can’t even control her own tone?

“I just wanted to know what you think before I answered, although I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure it out.”

“Some sort of reptile hybrid, or whatever. Now spill.”

“Close enough.” He shrugs. His shoulder moves the dagger with it but he doesn’t react to the metal at all. “I’m a dragon shifter.”

Out of all the things he could have said, _dragon shifter_ was one of the things she had expected the least.

“You’re lying,” she spits.

“I’m not.”

 _He has to be lying,_ her mind chants. _He has to be lying._

Dragon shifters were _myths._ They plagued the truth from all those ancient stories with doubt. If they had been real beings, they certainly weren’t now—no one had seen one for thousands of years, from whence they originated. And who knows if those tales were even real? She echoes this sentiment to him and all the traces of disinterest melt away, allowing for something far more sincere.

“Just because no one has seen us doesn’t mean we don’t exist,” he says gently, offering her a small crooked smile. “And trust me, there have been quite a few people who have seen us over the years. But they’re never believed, because you limit yourselves to so little when it comes to what’s really out here in the wild.”

His word brings her mind right back to her thought process from earlier, when she had refused to accept the idea of a mermaid-like creature with a beak. What if… what if those stories that everyone had brushed off were actually true? _Could_ they be true? She tries to imagine being that man—the man who came home with the story of a lifetime, only for everyone to laugh at him for such a preposterous narrative.

This creature being a dragon shifter would explain so much—from his almost careless attitude with a knife trained on his neck to his strange, otherworldly physical features—but she doesn’t want to believe anything coming out of a stranger’s mouth. But he was standing there in front of her, and she could see with her own two eyes that he definitely _looked_ like a dragon shifter, if she could visualize what a dragon shifter would look like.

What was it that she had said to herself earlier?… something about believing the existence of something if she saw it with her own eyes?… how _ironic._

She barely notices as he easily removes her dagger from his neck with no resistance. With her mind too occupied over wrapping itself around the idea he’s just introduced, she’s not sure she could even offer any if she tried.

Not that she’d admit that out loud, of course.

“Allow yourself some freedom. Imagine what’s beyond the front steps of your home.”

Mikasa finds herself frozen in place. Her eyes search his, and he pauses to look at her for a moment, his expression now unreadable. When he shoulders his way past her, she finally snaps out of her stupor and reaches out with her weaponless hand.

“Wait! Before you go! I don’t—I don’t—know your name yet—”

Why is she stammering? Where is her strong demeanor, the one that screams that she’s an Ackerman and not to be messed with? And why… why is it that her years of training decides to depart at record speed when she needs it the most?

“—but if that’s too forward, I—I understand—”

_This is a lost cause—_

“Eren.”

Mikasa blinks. “Huh?”

The creature peeks over his shoulder to meet her eyes. “My name is Eren.”

“Eren,” she tries. “ _Eren._ ”

He nods in affirmation. “I trust we’ll meet again, Mikasa.”

The shifter— _Eren_ —had already disappeared into the trees like the morning mist by the time she realizes that she never told him his name.

The absolute _nerve_ of that bastard.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see this written out into a chapter fic, let me know. I'll consider it.
> 
> Maybe.
> 
> March 12th update: I didn't expect so many people to want a continuation. Since this is the case, I'm going to actually start turning this into a chapter fic. No promises as to when I'll actually get this out... or if I'll actually get this out. I'll post updates on my Twitter, @ArtisticMath, so feel free to come by every now and then. Either way, thank you for all the support.
> 
> This particular fic will not be updated from now on -- the continuation will be posted within the same series, though, so if you'd like to get updates, sub to that. They will be under the same name as this one-shot, so keep an eye out. :)


End file.
